For years, there have been fervent calls to former colonial countries to return artefacts pillaged from the countries – mostly African – that they colonised. But, even as countries like Britain and France appeared willing to return some of these items, there have been concerns regarding the state of our museums on the continent, and if these artefacts would be properly preserved as they should. Adjaye Associates’ recent unveiling of its design for the Edo Museum of West African Art (EMOWAA) appears to address the first part of these concerns.

Exterior of the Edo Museum of West African Arts by Adjaye Associates — **Image courtesy of Adjaye Associates**

On Friday, the design firm released of the first images of the planned Edo Museum of West African Art (EMOWAA), a new museum, gallery and research centre which will house some 300 items on loan from European museums – if the money to build it can be raised.

Main entrance of Edo Museum of West African Arts by Adjaye Associates — **Image courtesy of Adjaye Associates**

The new museum, which will be adjacent the Oba’s palace, is linked to a $4 million archaeology project to excavate the site of the planned museum, and other parts of Benin City, to uncover ancient remains including parts of the city walls. This project, along with the museum, is a joint effort involving the Legacy Restoration Trust (LRT) – a Nigerian not-for-profit organisation – the British Museum with the local communities, the Benin Royal Court, the Government of Edo State, and the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM).

The community centre Edo Museum of West African Arts by Adjaye Associates — **Image courtesy of Adjaye Associates**

Appointed to undertake the initial concept and urban planning work on EMOWAA, Adjaye Associates will use “archaeology as a means of connecting the new museum into the surrounding landscape, by revitalizing and incorporating the surviving remains of the walls, moats and gates of the historic city, seen throughout the modern city today”. Acknowledging the importance of the buried archaeological remains, the excavation of the site will become part of the visitor’s experience.

The museum is part of an archeology project — **Image courtesy of Adjaye Associates**

Part of a wider scheme to revitalize the cultural core of Benin City, the EMOWAA and the archaeology project will be the drive behind the city’s economic revitalization. But Sir David Adjaye, founder of Adjaye Associates hopes for something more. “It has to be for the community first,” he said, “and an international site second.” He hopes that the return, albeit temporary, of the Benin bronze arts to its place of birth sparks “ the beginning of the renaissance of African culture. You need the objects because the objects provide the provenance and the physicality that start to connect you.”

Edo Museum of West African Art — **Image courtesy of Adjaye Associates**

Starting in 2021 and continuing for a period of 5 years, EMOWAA is focused on reuniting Benin artworks currently within international collections, as well as investigating and presenting the wider histories that these represent. In addition to directly supporting the building of the new museum, this archaeology project will actively engage with wider debates concerning Benin cultural heritage and the representation of its history.

The museum will feature Benin bronzes on loan from Britain — **Image courtesy of Adjaye Associates**

The open dialogue that this project fosters is designed to create new opportunities to address the significant history of the Kingdom of Benin but also the painful history of the invasion and destruction of Benin City by British forces in 1897 – and to engage in new forms of cultural exchange and understanding.

The Edo Museum of West African Arts would foster dialogue and healing — **Image courtesy of Adjaye Associates**

The Kingdom of Benin was one of the most important and powerful pre-colonial states of West Africa. It is known today for its castings in brass and bronze – the Benin Bronzes – as well as objects in other materials, including ivory, coral and wood.

Source: Arch Daily